educating eric

Yahoo! News - Bloggers Type It Like It Is in Boston Okay, I appreciate the fact that professional journalists have gone through some training and education (remember my Dad's profession?), but come on -- it's not rocket science! Does anyone really think that the human beings employed by newspapers deserve sainthood and that blogger = demon? "Lay people" can write. It's okay. More communication is better than less!

One-Issue Politics, One-Issue Marriage, and the Humane Society : "So then what is my response to the charge of being a one-issue voter?" Like John Piper, I have folks criticize me for being a "one-issue voter". He does a much better job than I could of explaining the fact that some single issues really can disqualify you from things, no matter how many good qualities you might possess to "balance out" the others.

EFF: Unintended Consequences: Five Years under the DMCA One more, just for folks who say, "Sure, something bad might happen in theory , but nobody is really going to use the law in that way..."

The DMCA More on the evil, evil law that I keep talking about.

Use the (PureDigital) Dakota Digital Camera with your PC An interesting tidbit on the technical side. The last "disposable digital cameras" that I saw were standard film cameras with a marketing deal to return your "prints" on a Kodak PictureCD or such. This site refers to some genuine "disposable" digital cameras that, if you hack, you can make use of yourself...

Wired News: Techies Blast Induce Act Looks like there's hope to putting an end to this stupid, stupid bill -- but I'm not holding my breath.

Antipiracy bill gains new ally | CNET News.com This Induce Act is the dumbest thing since the DMCA. It's amazing what you can come up with when you put non-technologists in charge of technology policy.

Microsoft pays to end Lindows suits | CNET News.com A win for both the little guy (who's $20m richer) and for Microsoft (which doesn't risk losing the "Windows" TM entirely).

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 07/09/2004 | Thief returns sculpture : "Sculptor Aldo Moroni was parking his car Thursday morning at his Northeast Minneapolis studio and noticed the sculpture in some brush, a discovery that left him near tears." What once was lost, now is found.

Yahoo! News - Expanded DVD Capacity Comes at a Cost : "Recordable DVDs are about to double their capacity, with a further sixfold increase around the corner." Everyone knows about the double-layer (or is that "dual-layer"?) DVDs -- the burners are out but the media is nearly impossible to find. But now we're looking at a "next generation" with a sixfold increase?!? I can't keep up!

Candela's photos are now updated better than ever. Enjoy!

St. Paul Pioneer Press | 07/07/2004 | Church, community 'ripped off' Who would steal a sculpture from a church? Planning to sell it on eBay or something?

BBC NEWS | Disposable planet Another very good story (fairly old -- from 2002) that I'm moving off my main site because it's really "blog-like" material instead. Here's what I had originally said: "The 'ethics of technology' is a personal interest of mine... rekindled by an article from the BBC about technology "recycling" in China. An interesting read if you want to depress yourself about the darker side of the equipment that's in front of you right now.?"

Animal Protection Institute - Bringing Corporate Accountability to General Mills I finally decided to pull this off my main web page (I think it was this story that inspired my need for a 'blog...) so here it is, saved for posterity: "So, I'm having lunch, happily eating my Yoplait yogurt, when I see some tiny print that says: "PROTECT WILDLIFE: CRUSH BEFORE DISPOSAL". What on earth did that mean? A quick search turned up a story (several years old) from the Animal Protection Institute. Did you ever realize that Yoplait kills skunks?"

Yahoo! News - Digital Video Makes Inroads With Police An interesting concept -- a kind of "Tivo on steriods", it seems.

ARCHOS - Cinema to go Wow! Wow! WOW! This thing is cool! The Pocket Video Recorder AV400 Series is the ultimate handheld digital video recorder that offers TV recording and a portable home entertainment center in one pocket-sized device.   The experience starts in the living room where you can record TV shows and movies directly from a TV, VCR, or cable / satellite receiver with a convenient one-time set-up TV Cradle.  But entertainment enjoyment goes far beyond the living room.  When on the go, you can watch videos and view photos on the large color LCD screen, listen to and record music, transfer photos from your digital camera and data files from your PC.